I’m so excited to take part in Julie Yeager’s Block-a-Week Crochet Along project! Granny squares are one of my favorite things to design, and I enjoyed being able to play with lots of fun stitches to create the Flora & Fauna Crochet Square.

I worked on the design just after attending the annual CGOA Chain Link conference, armed with lots of new stitch ideas. I was thrilled to have the chance to put them to use in this square.

My favorite new stitch that I learned is the linked treble crochet. It’s like a miniature Tunisian stitch, that creates a dense, but textured fabric. If it’s new to you, I hope you have fun giving it a try!

*Note, I will be updating this post with step-by-step photos for some of the tricky steps, and with a link to a Ravelry download in the near future.

Intro

Yarn: Worsted/Aran weight (#4 Medium) in 5 colors (approximately 80 g total), Shown here: Paintbox Cotton Aran (100% cotton; 50g, 85m) in Vintage Pink (A); Pistachio Green (B); Vanilla Cream (C); Tea Rose (D); Blush Pink (E), 1 ball each

Hook: US I (5.5 mm)

Finished Size: 12” 

Stitch Guide

2-dc cluster: [Yarn over, insert hook in stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops] twice. Yarn over and draw through remaining 3 loops.

3-dc cluster: [Yarn over, insert hook in stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops] three times. Yarn over and draw through remaining 4 loops.

Back loop (BL): Work stitch(es) in the back loop only of the indicated stitch.

Beg 3-dc cluster: Ch 2, [yarn over, insert hook in stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops] twice. Yarn over and draw through remaining 3 loops.

Beg linked treble crochet (beg linked tr): Ch 4, insert hook in 2nd ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in 3rd ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in 4th ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops on hook), [yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times.

Beg puff st: Insert hook in stitch, pull up a loop to approximately dc height, [yarn over, insert hook into same stitch and pull up a loop] 4 times (9 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 9 loops. Ch 1 to close the stitch.

Double crochet (dc): Yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, (yarn over and draw through 2 loops) twice.

Front-post single crochet (fpsc): Insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the indicated stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook.

Front-post treble crochet (fptr): Yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the indicated stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop, [yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times.

Half-double crochet (hdc): Yarn over, insert hook in stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 3 loops on hook.

Linked treble crochet (linked tr): Insert hook in top horizontal bar of previous st, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in bottom horizontal bar of previous st, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in next st, yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops on hook), [yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times. See video from Moogly for an example.

Picot: Ch3, sl st to 1st ch.

Puff stitch (puff st): Yarn over, insert hook into indicated stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, [yarn over, insert hook into same stitch and pull up a loop] 3 times (9 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 9 loops. Ch 1 to close the stitch.

Single crochet (sc): Insert hook in stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and draw through 2 loops.

Instructions

Notes: All joins at beginning and end of rounds are made with sl st unless otherwise noted.

Rnd 1: With A, into adjustable ring, beg 3-dc cluster, ch 2, *3-dc cluster, ch 2; repeat from * 6 times, join to beg 3-dc cluster. Fasten off A. (8 3-dc cluster, 8 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 2: Join B in any ch-2 sp, *[ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, sl st] in ch-2 sp, sl st into next ch-2 sp; repeat from * around¹. Fasten off B. (16 sl st, 16 2-dc cluster, 8 ch-3 sp, 16 ch 3)

¹Work final sl st of the rnd into the same ch-2 sp as the join.

Rnd 3: Join C in last st of Rnd 2, *sc in sl st, ch 4 (working behind sts of Rnd 2), sk [ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, sl st]; repeat from * around, join to first sc. Do not fasten off. (8 sc, 8 ch-4 sp)

Rnd 4: Sl st into ch-4 sp, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), 3 hdc in same sp, 4 hdc in each ch-4 sp around, join to first hdc. Fasten off C. (32 hdc)

Rnd 5: Join A in BL of same st as join, *sc in BL of next 4hdc, fptr around 3-dc cluster of Rnd 1 below; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off A. (32 sc, 8 fptr)

Rnd 6: Join C in BL of same st as join, *sc in BL of next 2 sts, sc in ch-3 sp of Rnd 2 below, sc in BL of next 3 sts; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off C. (48 sc)

Rnd 7: Work this entire rnd in BL. Join D in any sc worked into Rnd 2, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next st, puff st in next 2 sts, hdc in next 2 sts, *hdc in next 2 sts, puff st in next 2 sts, hdc in next 2 sts; repeat from * to end, join to first hdc. Fasten off D. (32 hdc, 16 puff sts)

Rnd 8: Join E in puff st to the left of the join, *sc in puff st, sc in ch-1 sp², sc in next puff st, sc in next ch-1 sp², sc in next hdc, ch 4, [puff st, ch 3, puff st, picot, ch 3, puff st] between next 2 puff sts, ch 4; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off E. (20 sc, 12 puff sts, 4 picot, 8 ch-4 sp, 8 ch-3 sp)

²These are the ch-1 used to close the puff sts.

Rnd 9: Join B in BL of same st as join, *sc in next BL of next 5 sts, 4 sc in ch-4 sp, fpsc around next puff st, 3 sc in ch-3 sp, (sc, ch 2, sc) in picot, 3 sc in next ch-3 sp, fpsc around next puff st, 4 sc in ch-4 sp; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off B. (84 sc, 8 fpsc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 10: Join A in any ch-2 sp, ch 4 (counts as hdc, ch 2), hdc in same sp, *hdc in BL of each st to next ch-2 sp, (hdc, ch 2, hdc) in ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (hdc, ch 2, hdc) on final repeat, join to 2nd ch of initial ch-4. Fasten off A. (100 hdc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 11: Join C in any ch-2 sp, beg linked tr, *linked tr in each st to next ch-2 sp, [2 linked tr, ch 2, tr, linked tr] in ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting [tr, linked tr] on final repeat, join to top of initial ch-4. Fasten off C. (112 linked tr, 4 tr, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 12: Join D in any ch-2 sp, ch 4 (counts as hdc, ch 2), hdc in same sp, *hdc in next 2 sts, (dc in top horizontal bar of next st, hdc in next 3 sts) 6 times, dc in top horizontal bar of next st, hdc in next 2 sts, (hdc, ch 2, hdc) in next ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (hdc, ch 2, hdc) on final repeat, join to 2nd ch of initial ch-4. Fasten off D. (96 hdc, 28 dc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 13: Join E in any ch-2 sp, *[puff st, ch 3, puff st, picot, ch 3, puff st] in ch-2 sp, ch 2, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, ch 3, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, (ch 3, sk 3 sts, sc in next st) 5 times, ch 3, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, ch 2, sk 2 sts; repeat from * to end, join to first puff st. Fasten off E. (12 puff sts, 4 picot, 36 ch-3 sp, 8 ch-2 sp, 32 sc)

Rnd 14: Join B in ch-3 sp following the join, *3 sc in ch-3 sp, ch 3, sk picot, 3 sc in next ch-3 sp, fpsc around puff st, 2 sc in ch-2 sp, (3 hdc in next ch-3 sp) 7 times, 2 sc in ch-2 sp, fpsc around puff st; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off B. (40 sc, 8 fpsc, 4 ch-3 sp, 84 hdc)

Rnd 15: Join A in any ch-2 sp, [ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in ch-3 sp, *dc in BL of each st to next ch-3 sp, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-3 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) on final repeat, join to first dc. Fasten off A. (148 dc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 16: Join E in any ch-2 sp, [ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in ch-2 sp, *sk 1 st, dc in each st to next ch-2 sp, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) on final repeat, join to first dc. Fasten off E. (160 dc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Weave in all ends.

Partial Square

Congrats on finishing up your Flora and Fauna Crochet Square! For fun, I made an additional block stopping at Round 13. I rather like the look of this one too, if I do say so myself!

I’m looking forward to seeing your beautiful color combinations for the Flora and Fauna Crochet Square on social media. Tag your works with #floraandfaunasquare so we can all see!